


got sage on the door

by wvlfqveen



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14371551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wvlfqveen/pseuds/wvlfqveen
Summary: Toni, looking for a place to hide after a prank gone wrong, accidentally breaks into a witch's shop. Things do not go exactly as...expected.





	got sage on the door

**Author's Note:**

> me, resisting the urge to title this "i put a spell on you": tItLeS aRe So HaRd
> 
> HI GUYS! for some reason i insist on involving witchcraft in my riverdale fics, but this one isn't a hp au. i've wanted to write about these two for so long though because the tag is shockingly subpar in content quality and diversity. that f/f feel.......lmao
> 
> anyway. toni refers to her other language as cherokee instead of uktena in this because a) i like the idea of toni knowing at least some words b) in case you didnt know, uktena is not an actual tribe but a cherokee legend so. toni is cherokee in this
> 
> title is from brujas by princess nokia
> 
> enjoy and let me know what you think!! xx
> 
> also i made a cheryl playlist. nothing to do with this fic. i just made it because i love her 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/rodopiani__/playlist/6ygZOQ4iLWCfUr03YDffd2?si=SxGKyTDdSPi-A1IYupeC9A

_Run fasssster…._

“I’m trying, Audre!,” Toni hissed, lungs burning, her legs moving as fast as she could push them.

Motherfucking Penny Peabody. She should have never gone along with Sweet Pea’s and Jughead’s prank idea. And she probably shouldn’t have _accidentally_ attempt to set Penny’s familiar on fire.

To her defense, she had been startled, alright? Little shit had jumped right in front of her. And what kind of twisted witch kept a _scorpion_ around as a familiar?

Her own familiar slithered down her wrist, lithe body tight and shaking with worry. Their combined senses told her Penny was still very much in pursuit of her. She ignored her cell phone vibrating in her pocket and took a sharp turn, only to skid to a stop. Dead end.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” she chanted, making a full turn. The alley was empty. No doors, no exits. Just wall.

_There._

“What? What do you see?”

_Door. That brick._

Audre flicked her tongue out. Toni’s eyes followed the direction she was pointing in and fell on a brick that was red in a sea of grey. How had she not noticed that?

She put her hand on it. It was warm to the touch. Her fingers glowed for a moment before the wall in front of her gave away, and she plunged into the dark.

****

Pink fire from her hand lit up the dark hallway as she walked forward hesitantly. The wall had slid shut behind her, cutting off the outside world. Currently, the outside world meant Penny, so she was not panicking.

Yet.

Audre did not seem worried. She was curled around Toni’s wrist, calm but also excited for something she would not explain every time Toni asked, so she kept walking until the hallway gave away to a room that looked like someone’s storage. She muffled a sneeze in her elbow and waved her fire off. The room had a functioning light bulb, enough for her to see. Books, some new, some ancient-looking, dominated the room, and there were empty jars on the shelves. A metal staircase spiraled up to a hatch in the ceiling. She crossed the room to it and started climbing.

It took some pushing, but she eventually opened the hatch, wincing at the loud bang the door made against the floor. She took a moment to look around. More jars and books, and some amulets and charms. A magic shop? And real magic, too, that made her skin tingle, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

Audre hissed in alarm suddenly, and puffed up. Toni whipped her head around.

And came face to face with a blood red heeled-foot and a black cat.

Her gaze moved up. Long legs, black skirt, black crop top with a fancy spider brooch, blood red lips and-

A very angry and _very_ pretty person glaring down at her, red fire on their fingertips.

“You have five seconds to explain why you just crawled up from my basement, demon,” they said slowly, tone dangerous.

“I can explain,” Toni promised. She would have lifted her hands to show her innocence but falling down the staircase was not ideal right now. “I’m on the run.”

They did not extinguish the fire in their hands. “And you chose my shop for what, exactly?”

“I didn’t even know this was a shop until I came up here,” Toni said defensively. “I just tapped the wall.”

Surprise flickered over the person’s face before they smothered it. “That’s an employee only entrance.”

“Well then hey there, boss,” Toni quipped. “You mind if I climb up? Your legs are great but I feel weird looking up to you.”

They reddened, and the black cat by their feet hissed. Could they have a more cliché familiar?

Although she supposed she wasn’t one to talk. Snakes weren’t exactly uncommon.

 _Catssss,_ Audre hissed, sounding disgusted.

After a moment, they stepped back wordlessly and Toni pushed out of the hatch. She dusted herself off and stood up straight, offering her hand.

“Toni Topaz, nice to meet you. This is Audre.”

“I did not inquire about any of the information you just gave me,” they pointed out. They stared at Toni’s hand until she got the hint and dropped it. “And Audre? Really?” Toni raised her eyebrows.

“What? I’m a feminist.”

They rolled their eyes, and finally extinguished their fire. The cat hissed again, a distinct undertone of disapproval in the noise. Cats always hated Toni.

“Be quiet, Jace,” they ordered, nudging the cat away. Jace padded away, but not before glaring a little at Toni and Audre. Audre puffed up again.

_Assssshole._

“I’m Cheryl,” the other witch offered at last. “And I still don’t know why you’re here.”

“I told you, someone’s trying to catch me, and I _really_ don’t want them to catch me. I ended up in the alley behind the shop and Audre told me to press on that brick, I did, and voilà,” she gestured to herself. “I’m here.”

Cheryl narrowed their eyes. “You’re not supposed to be able to get through there. Only people the shop trusts can use that entrance.”

Toni grinned. “I guess your shop trusts me, Cherry Bomb.” That got another blush and a distant hiss from Jace.

Cheryl glared. “Yeah, right, and my Louboutins are fake. You need to leave.”

Toni put her hands up placatingly. “I will. I just wanna make sure Penny is gone first.”

“Penny? Penny Peabody?,” Cheryl inquired.

“Yeah,” Toni confirmed. Cheryl’s mouth thinned.

“Of course you have Peabody after you. What did you do?”

“I helped a couple of friends break into her house and attempt to uh, tamper with a few of her things but then her familiar tried to sting me to death and I _might_ have tried to kill him with fire. Maybe.”

“You’re really talented at breaking in, aren’t you?,” Cheryl said, sarcastic.

Toni rolled her eyes. “Relax, Barbie. I’m not here to steal anything.”

Cheryl opened their mouth to retort, then frowned as a loud beeping noise came from the front of the store.

“What was that?”

They looked back at her, thin-lipped again. “Someone’s trying to break in from the _front_ this time. Stay here and don’t touch anything.”

They left, closing the back room door behind them before Toni could protest. She heard the door jingle open and then a voice-

Oh sweet fucking _Circe,_ Penny was here.

Toni looked around for a hiding spot, Cheryl’s warning be damned. She was not going to just stand here and wait for Penny to find her. She considered going down to the basement again, but the hatch door was loud. She dived behind a stack of boxes instead, squeezing into the corner of the room.

Jace was sitting there, puffing up indignantly at the sight of Toni. Toni put a finger to her lips and widened her eyes pleadingly.

Her anatomy didn’t really allow it, but Toni could tell that if Audre had the necessary features she would be glaring right now. Toni barely paid attention to their silent stand-off, eyes and ears trained towards the door. She couldn’t hear what they were saying from this corner of the room, but Penny was _still_ here. What was Cheryl saying to her?

 _Sssshe’ssss pretty,_ Audre said, apparently grown bored of Jace. _Bad tasssste in familiarssss._

“How do you know she’s a she, Audre?,” Toni admonished. The concept of the gender spectrum was not exactly easy for the snake to grasp.Toni had lectured her many times on pronouns.

 _Audre knowssss_ , her familiar insisted. _Toni likessss her._

Toni said nothing to that. Her familiar tensed and uncurled from her wrist, rising up to her full height.

_Oh, no._

“What?,” Toni whispered. “What is it?”

Jace sat up, too, eyes and ears trained around the stack of boxes. He tensed, tail puffing up.

_Penny’ssss familiar. Coming._

She heard what the familiars had before her. Scuttling.

She swore, a long string of English and some choice words in Cherokee. “Now what? Wait, Jace, no!”

Cheryl’s familiar had just lunged around the boxes, and must have caught the scorpion because he gave a very loud meow, like a war cry. Toni had to physically restrain Audre from going after them.

“Out!,” Cheryl’s voice rose suddenly, cutting above the noise in the back room. “Take your filthy sewer rat of a familiar and get out of my shop! I’ll call the police!”

Silence for a few, very tense moments, and then the jingle of the door announced Penny had gone. Jace whined loudly.

The door opened, fast enough Toni nearly took it out with a fireball. Cheryl merely glared.

“I told you not to move.”

“And I would be scorpion food by now if I had listened,” Toni bit back. She got up and stepped around the stack. Jace looked fine, albeit miffed that the scorpion had left mid-fight. Audre peered around her wrist.

_Cat not ssssso bad._

“You were telling the truth,” Cheryl said, looking uncomfortable at the admission. “She asked me about you.”

“And?,” Toni asked. She already knew the answer though. She took a step closer.

Cheryl crossed her arms, uncomfortable. “I said I had no idea what she was talking about. She kept pestering me and then I heard Jace,” she directed her glare at the cat here “making noise, so I yelled at her. And she left.”

Toni bit her lip, took another step forward. They were only arm’s length apart now. “She’s not going to forget that, you know.”

Cheryl lifted her chin. “I can take her in a fight. Peabody does not scare me.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt. But thank you, for covering me.”

Cheryl looked like none of the words that had left Toni’s mouth made sense to her.

“Whatever,” she said dismissively. “You owe me now.”

Toni hummed and stepped even closer. Cheryl seemed to register their proximity now and her lips parted, eyes widening before her expression smoothed out. “What do you want?,” Toni murmured.

Cheryl seemed to flounder, unsure how to respond, which was all sorts of absolutely gratifying. Her dark eyes swept down to Toni’s combat boots, before slowly climbing up her jeans, her shirt and leather jacket, and then finally her face.

“You will come back,” she said, decisively, tone brooking no argument. “And you’ll try to convince me to go on a date with you.”

Toni didn’t even question how she was so sure she wanted to go on a date with her. She had never been subtle. “Will it work?”

Cheryl smirked. “Perhaps. Eventually.”

“Sounds promising,” Toni said, allowing her own smile to widen. “Deal.”

They stared at each other, Toni smiling, Cheryl trying not to, until Jace meowed. Cheryl blinked down at him. “You’re right,” she said in response to him. “You should go,” she told Toni. “Before Penny decides she needs to return. Go out the back,” she nodded, a small movement of her chin that only served to draw Toni’s attention to her long neck. “Jace will go with you until- are you even listening to me?”

“Nope,” Toni said cheerfully, dragging her eyes up to meet Cheryl’s.

Cheryl huffed. “Go before I change my mind about going on a date with you.”

Toni grinned. “I thought I would have to convince you.”

Cheryl reddened and glared weakly. “Get out of my shop.”

Toni laughed. “Fine, fine, I’m going,” she agreed, stepping away to do just that. Then, making a split-second decision, she turned, planted a lightning-quick kiss on Cheryl’s cheek and booked it out of there before Cheryl’s indignant noise had even reached her ears.

Totally worth everything she went through today, including the scratch Jace gave her on her shin before he returned to his witch. Audre hissed in her defence, but it was weak compared to the first time she had met the cat.

“Traitor,” Cheryl accused, walking back to FP’s house. Jughead and the others would be there waiting for her. Probably. She still hadn’t checked her cell. “I thought you were on my side.”

 _Ssssaved you from the ssssscorpion_ , Audre reminded her, a little defensive. 

“My familiar is easily impressed with heroics,” Toni grumbled, without any real heat. She scratched Audre’s chin. “We’re hopeless.”

_Sssspeak for yoursssself._

Toni laughed, cherry-red lips and wide brown eyes flashing behind her eyelids. Yeah, she was hopeless enough for the both of them.


End file.
